Ferdinand Zecca

A man flies his plane "Fend l'Air" over Paris.

A trick film using the reverse effect.

A convicted criminal dreams about his past the night before his execution.

A drunk staggers into his apartment and falls asleep. He dreams he climbs to the top of a building and flies to the moon, then falls back to earth. When he wakes, still drunk, he is in his apartment.

A magician performs tricks with a chicken and eggs.

A hapless man tries to get undressed only to find himself magically layered in even more clothes.

Charles Prince, his gift of a posy spurned in favor of a rival's expensive ring, goes to enlist in the Balkan Wars. Sort of. That is, he goes to Pathe Freres and talks them into making a movie about him enlisting (and fighting) in the Balkans. That'll teach her!

To the modern viewer, it may seem peculiar that there are several movies in which a man sneaks a kiss off a young woman in a darkened railway car, all produced in the first few years of the motion picture.

The extraordinary life of cinema pioneer Segundo de Chomón.

Cinematógrafo 1900

Nicole Védrès' chronicle of Paris from 1900 to 1914 is brought to life through the use of original material, all authentic, secured from more then 700 films belonging to public and private collections. A few of the celebrities of the time shown are Enrico Caruso, Sarah Bernhardt, and Maurice Chevalier.